hi again with another question for the learned and experienced members out there.

I'm relatively new at this but forging ahead nicely and picking up some good pointers from friends and research..

I had picked up a lot of the free files available online in the beginning to create new characters, morphs to change the shapes and skins to change the appearances (boring having the same look alike models in the scenes).. But it occured to me that one model I purchased (Nanette) was reflecting the light back in a much more realistic manner than the others that I had picked up for free until I noticed that the Nanette skin I was using had a 'shaded' option, and I think that is what is making the difference. The other skins wouldn't show rim lighting (lights shining from behind over the shoulder for example).

Under what circumstances would would unshaded skins be preferable to shaded skins?

Is adding that feature or ability to skins a difficult task (hence why those I found for free don't have that ability)?

When searching for skins, what should I be looking for in the descriptions? Will it mention it specifically that it has this option? Any highly recommended skins I should be looking for?

Thanks in advance..

Quick question: which version of Poser are you using?

And who makes "Nanette"? The concept of shaded skin seems a bit old technology, as in from 4 years ago or something like that. Move the light, you have to reapply the skin.

With the newer information we have about lighting, shadows on skin are much more realistic without having to resort to artifices.

Everything is in the shader nodes that exist in the Material Room.  Most freebies are set up with the most minimal number of shaders simply to just dress the character.  No effort is put into further development.  However, more elaborate characters will have better shader node construct which will impart realistic responses to scene lighting.  But, because there are significant variations between Poser versions, you will find various shader application to deal with shortcomings of the applications. 

If you are interested in rendering realistic skin textures irregardless of which model/character and skin texture is available, I would strongly recommend Bagginsbill's VSSProp.  It is a script utility which can apply shader noeds across several material zones with the click of a button.  And it also has a built in skin shader template which is far more superior than any skin shader available anywhere.

i thought, shaders meant it was for Daz Studio?

Nope, the nodes in the Mat Room are called shader nodes.

I'm using Poser 2012.. the Nanette was recommended by someone to try out..

Shaders, nodes etc are things I'm still reading and trying to learn about.

Check out Snarleygribbley's EZSkin shader. Gives complete control over almost all of the skin variables, and creates new shaders that are better than the originals.

Like VSS, it is free.

Snarlygibbly has put out an excellent freebie script which take advantage of the new features in both P9 & PP2012.  Based on BB's VSS skin template, it will greatly enhance any skin texture for any character available.  That product is called EZSkin, and it is available in the freeware forum section as well as under the Free section.  Snarly frequents the forum regularly, and stands behind his product.

And it's free. 

Edit: Double post with BW.

Many thanks! I'll have a look and give it a try..

Much appreciated..

Cheers

There's also a current ongoing thread where folks are making their additions to the SnarlyGribbly EZSkin.XML file to add new characters to the script.

I hate to sound like a noobe, but I can't seem to find EZSkin in the searches?

Attached Link: http://snarlygribbly.org/misc/ezskin/EZSkin.zip

Here ya go...

And just like love.. "looking in all the wrong places...."

Many thanks! Much appreciated..